I had a very special guest join me on my weekly television science segment this week. Anchorman Mark Koebrich took a break from his vacation and brought his 3-year-old grandson Jack to do a little science.
It’s never too early to start teaching tiny ones. Early childhood is the perfect time to start introducing science, learning and exploration. This is why teachers teach – to see the wonder and excitement that lights up children’s eyes when they get to experience learning firsthand. Jack was very shy and would only whisper his responses to my questions. We began with floating ping pong balls, moved up to balloons and then graduated to a beach ball. Jack’s eyes lit up bigger and bigger with each ball. We did the grand finale by blowing air under a toilet paper roll and shooting toilet paper out and over our heads.
A number of people have asked about origin of the National Hands-on Science Institute (NHOSI). The old website (www.nhosi.com) detailed much of the history of the Institute up to 2003, but the website was never updated after 2003 when NHOSI became Science in the Rockies. Dr. Jim Giulianelli was a great friend who taught me the value of creating teacher training programs that really worked. Much has happened to hands-on science training programs for teachers over the years, and I'm honored to have learned from an incredible science mentor.
About the Institute… In 1990, Dr. Jim Giulianelli, Professor of Chemistry at Regis University, and Dr. Geri Anderson, Professor of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, shared a common goal for science education in Colorado: To provide elementary and middle school teachers with hands-on science training and to give elementary students the opportunity to explore the excitement of conducting experiments in a laboratory setting. It was early in 1990 when Jim contacted ICE to talk about using the Fun with Chemistry curriculum at Regis University (incidentally, Jim did his post-doctoral work at UWM and this helped open the door of communication with
